A pet pooch was rushed for emergency treatment after wolfing down a whole Easter egg.
The cavapoochon – called Jet – devoured the Cadbury’s Crunchie treat within seconds after it was left unattended.
The serial food thief managed to drag it under a bed and scoff the lot – along with some of the wrapper.
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Chocolate can be toxic to dogs, and Jet was at risk of heart issues without swift treatment.
Now his owner, Kirsty Aitchson, is warning other dog-lovers about the risks of chocolate poisoning – especially at Easter.
“The minute I heard a rustling noise I thought ‘hold on, Jet’s got hold of something he shouldn’t have’ – and unfortunately I was right,” she told What’s The Jam.
“My mum had had a nibble of the egg before putting it down and that was enough for Jet to get to work.
“When I looked under the bed there he was with some chocolate round his mouth and he seemed perfectly happy with nothing wrong with him.
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“But he’s small dog and it was a big Easter egg he’d ploughed through – he’d eaten around 150 grams worth.”
Aware of how risky chocolate can be and with her daytime vets closed, Kirsty phoned the pet emergency service Vets Now.
Within a couple minutes, she and Jet were on their way from their home in Lancing, West Sussex, to the Vets Now clinic in nearby Worthing.
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Jet was admitted straightaway for a series of tests, and because Kirsty had acted so quickly, he hadn’t even had time to digest the Easter egg.
The clinical team were able to administer medicine to make him sick and bring up a large amount of the chocolate.
Kirsty said: “They also found a foam earplug in there as well which for some reason he’d thought was a tasty treat and which could have blocked his stomach.
“A few hours later, he was well enough to come home, with some charcoal tablets to help clean up his tummy.
“Of all the things you want to be doing on Good Friday, hurtling off to the emergency vets and worrying whether your dog is going to survive must be bottom of the list.
“So my advice to other owners is that you just need eyes in the back of your head at this time of year if there’s any chocolate anywhere at all in the house.
“Dogs just seem able to sniff it out at a hundred paces and if your dog is anything like Jet, they’ll only need your back turned for an instant.
“The team at Vets Now were so helpful and were very kind to me as well as Jet, which is important because I was very anxious indeed.
“But in the nicest possible way, I’m hoping not to see them again for a very long time.
“I know all dogs are food-motivated but Jet really is very skilled at pinching things from under your nose.
“Last Christmas, he used one of the kitchen chairs as a trampoline and basically bounced himself onto the work-top to steal a lamb bone – that’s the sort of character he is.”
Cristian Mihaita, Principal Vet at Vet’s Now Worthing, said: “Kirsty and Jet weren’t alone in needing our help that weekend – quite the opposite.
“Across our network of out-of-hours clinics and hospitals around the UK, we had a 92% increase in chocolate cases over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend, compared to the previous weekend, which gives an indication of how dangerous Easter can be for dogs.
“You sometimes hear about people feeding their dog a chocolate biscuit as a treat and of course it’s intended innocently.
“But the reality is that chocolate contains theobromine and caffeine, which cause clinical signs such as vomiting and diarrhoea, an increase in heart rate, blood pressure, agitation, tremors and seizures.
“The issue is that dogs metabolise these compounds very differently to the way we human beings do – making them much more sensitive to the effects.
“We have an online calculator which owners can use to check out the level of risk if their dog does get their paws on chocolate.
“In Jet’s case, this calculator very clearly indicated that he was at severe risk of major heart problems given the amount he’d eaten and given how small he is.
“So Kirsty did exactly the right thing in phoning us immediately and in bringing Jet in straightaway.
“If your dog eats chocolate this Easter – and we know it will happen to lots of owners – please do as Kirsty did and seek help there and then.
“Every minute matters in cases of chocolate poisoning and the sooner help is sought the sooner your pet can get the treatment it needs.”
The drama happened on Good Friday last year when Jet was four.
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